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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27698630">Wilted Flower</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeStoryteller/pseuds/HopeStoryteller'>HopeStoryteller</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Gleefully Voicing This Eulogy [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Temporary Character Death, also this got way out of hand, please don't let the character death tag scare you this IS a fixit fic, the relationship is like.......... barely hinted at</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:35:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,523</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27698630</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeStoryteller/pseuds/HopeStoryteller</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tiso dies.</p><p>Then he doesn't.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>God Tamer &amp; Tiso (Hollow Knight), Quirrel/Tiso (Hollow Knight), The Knight &amp; Tiso (Hollow Knight)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Gleefully Voicing This Eulogy [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028826</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>136</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Wilted Flower</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/AeAyem/gifts">AeAyem</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It occurs to Tiso, shortly after he’s started the Trial of the Fool, that perhaps he should have spent more time training before blindly rushing in. Perhaps he could have been better prepared. No force in this life could stop him from challenging the final Trial <em> eventually, </em> but maybe he should have paid that hot spring a visit or at least taken the night off.</p><p>But he was high on the scent of victory and that strange orange splatter that everything in this kingdom bled instead of a more normal color. How could he <em> not </em> place his mark and go right in? They loved him! They’ll continue to love him when he shows them <em> all. </em></p><p>Only problem is, Tiso is starting to <em> doubt </em> he <em> can </em> show them all. What he should have done was asked around, or watched someone else take on the Trial of the Fool so he knew what to prepare for, or even taken a nap.</p><p>But he can’t exactly <em> forfeit. </em> The only ways out of here are by winning, or by dying. And Tiso has no intention of dying when he’s come so far just to get here.</p><p>He continues to have no intention of dying right up until the Brooding Mawlek sits on him. After that, he has no intention at all.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Everything hurts. Tiso groans and shoves himself to his feet. Strangely, everything hurts a lot <em> less </em> now. That’s probably a good thing. Without all the <em> pain, </em> he can think clearer, and determine where he is, and where to go from here.</p><p>Well—he <em> knows </em> where to go from here. He’s going right back up to the Colosseum of Fools, and he’s going to take on their final Trial again, and he is going to win. He remembers most of the trial so far, although memories get a bit fuzzy around the first couple Mawleks. Were there more? There were probably more.</p><p>They’d dumped him down into Kingdom’s Edge with the other failures. Tiso would be insulted, but he <em> had </em> failed. Once. This time, he has to succeed. He reaches for his shield, and—</p><p>That comforting weight on his arm is gone. His shield is gone.</p><p>
  <em> H i s  s h i e l d  i s  g o n e . </em>
</p><p>Tiso fights back the beginnings of panic. Of <em> course </em> he wouldn’t have held onto it. He probably dropped it at some point. It’ll be a simple matter to find it and return to win. He looks down, because at his feet is really the most likely place to find it.</p><p>He does not find his shield. He finds something far worse.</p><p>“Oh, <em> fuck,” </em> Tiso swears. He stares. The sightless eyes of his own corpse—no shield included—stare right back. Damn, he looks a <em> mess. </em> His shell is cracked nearly in two, he’s pretty sure the only thing keeping his head from rolling away entirely is his hood, and he’s… dead. <em> Very </em> dead.</p><p>The memories come rushing back when he realizes it: the audience holding their collective breaths, Tiso scanning the arena for the next enemy but never thinking to look up, and then…</p><p><em> Splat. </em> He didn’t even see what killed him. </p><p>This… is a problem. Tiso doesn’t think the Colosseum accepts ghosts as participants, particularly given that most can’t exactly <em> see </em> ghosts. Tiso is one of them. He hadn’t… exactly, assumed that ghosts even existed, because if <em> he </em> couldn’t see them, how could he believe the words of others?</p><p>He would owe several bugs apologies, if he were still alive to give them. The irony in that is that he never would have given them if not for this—and the last Tiso checked, there wasn’t any way to come back from death.</p><p>Maybe he <em>had</em> gotten a little bit in over his head.</p><p>But wait. He’s a ghost now. There is absolutely <em> nothing </em> stopping him from marching right back into the Colosseum and finding out, for sure, what killed him. There is absolutely <em> nothing </em> stopping him from watching other trial participants and learning, too late, what the rest of the Trial of the Fool was like.</p><p>There is absolutely nothing stopping him from… moving on. His spectral form flickers as he thinks about it, and he looks down.</p><p>Moving on is for sissies. He leaves. But before he does, he reaches out in a futile attempt to at least close his own eyes. They’re <em> unnerving </em> and not in a good way, not when he’s on the receiving end of them.</p><p>He leaves too quickly to realize he’s succeeded.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>(A smaller warrior with a white, horned mask stumbles across his body not long after Tiso himself has left. They stop in their tracks, staring with an impossible emotion to decipher. Perhaps it’s pity. Perhaps it’s disbelief. Perhaps, and this is the most unlikely option of all: perhaps it is a deep, resentful regret.)</p><p>(They continue to stare for what feels like forever and no time at all. Eventually, they bow their head in what can only be sorrow, and turn to leave.)</p><p>(Black drips out from the eyeholes in their mask. They wipe away the dark droplets fast, but not fast enough: one falls to the ground and stains it.)</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>So what killed him was a <em> Brooding Mawlek. </em> Where did they even <em> find </em> one of those? How did they even get <em> Lesser </em> Mawleks into the arena, never mind anything bigger?</p><p>Tiso notes, with some satisfaction, that most of the challengers don’t even make it as far as he did. One sidesteps the Mawlek skillfully (Tiso hears some muttering about <em> that stupid ant </em> in the crowd, which he ignores) and, eventually, takes it down. </p><p>They don’t make it much further. Tiso isn’t as bitterly satisfied as he should be by that.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>(Carefully sidestepping a falling fool—for their cargo is delicate—the little warrior returns to where Tiso fell. With their free hand, they wipe away more thick, black, bubbling tears. They kneel. Their whole body shakes with what could charitably be called a sob, even as they retrieve two things from within their cloak: a delicate flower, and a battered shield.)</p><p>(They maneuver the shield between Tiso’s arm and broken carapace, covering up the cracks. Tiso would have liked that. Tiso wouldn’t have liked the flower they put in his hand, glowing faintly and stinging slightly where they touch it.)</p><p>(If it weren’t for the fact that they aren’t sure Tiso was even capable of sleeping, he’d almost look like he was. But they know the truth.)</p><p>(They choke back another broken sob, and leave.)</p><p>(They don’t see the arm holding the delicate flower twitch.)</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The current challenger was doing <em> extremely </em> well for a while. They’d continued to do extremely well until what Tiso can assume is the last challenge of the trial. It’s <em> only </em> two bugs: a red-armored bipedal one with a <em> wicked </em> blade, and a much bigger one with three sets of burning orange eyes.</p><p><em> God tamer, </em> are the whispers Tiso hears around him, and given what short work she and her god make of the challenger, he can believe it.</p><p>They dump the unlucky challenger the same way they dump anyone else who dies in a trial, the same way they dumped Tiso himself. The god tamer wipes off her blade and playfully clinks it against her god’s horns. The god makes an amused <em> chrr. </em></p><p>They’re like him, Tiso realizes: uncompromising. Unwilling to lose. Fighting till the bitter end.</p><p>“She’s never lost,” someone says beside him. They’re not talking to the ghost, but Tiso starts at it anyway. “She was a challenger once, she and her beast together. She beat the previous champion of the Colosseum, took up their mantle, and has been here since.”</p><p><em> No one </em> has beaten God Tamer? That… that can’t be right. Tiso finds himself glancing over his shoulder at Lord Fool on his throne.</p><p>For the first time, he notices that Lord Fool is dead. A crack runs through his mask diagonally, and his head lolls to the side. He’s quite possibly more dead than Tiso is.</p><p>Does anyone else even know?</p><p>Does anyone else even <em> care? </em></p><p>Tiso doesn’t know, and he doesn’t know if he wants to know, either. He looks back to God Tamer, who has mounted her beast to cheers all around. She’s showered in geo and cheers as she leaves the arena, victorious once again.</p><p>It’s then, right then, that something <em> pulls. </em> It can’t be anything on a physical level—the physical world no longer has any hold on Tiso. It’s something on a metaphysical level then, something on the same level he is.</p><p>Whatever it is, it doesn’t want to take no for an answer. But Tiso does <em> not </em> let go. He pulls back, makes the darkness drag him every excruciating step of the way until it overtakes him and everything goes black.</p><p>When he wakes, everything hurts as it did. He’s stiff, and sore, and there’s <em> something </em> on his chest. His eyes blink open blearily.</p><p>It’s… his shield. On his chest. <em> Weighing </em> down on his chest, which means… he’s… not dead?</p><p>It takes more strength than he thought he possessed to push up through the pain, but he does, leaning more than he’d like on his shield for support. Everything hurts, but his carapace is whole again, and his shield is here, and the ash is perpetually falling from above.</p><p>As he watches, something much bigger falls too: the last challenger in the Colosseum. They don’t so much as twitch when they hit the ledge next to him. Tiso takes a small step away, and unclenches his off hand.</p><p>In it is… a little, white flower. A wilted one. He considers discarding it, but instead tucks it into his hood. It’s pretty, even wilted.</p><p>Not that Tiso has ever been much for pretty things, but he’s pretty sure he died and then somehow <em> un-</em>died so he’s allowed to make some weird decisions, just this once. He looks up, considering.</p><p>He considers, for far longer than he should, just walking away. Eventually, instead, he begins the long climb back up.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The <em> look </em> on the little, chained-up fool’s <em> face </em> to see him in one piece almost makes the trip back up worth it. If Tiso weren’t already exhausted, he would mess with him a little more. As it is, he asks, “Do I need to pay again to unlock the Trial of the Fool?”</p><p>“Um… n-no, you don’t,” the little fool stammers. “How are you—first that weird quiet warrior, and now <em> you?” </em></p><p>Okay, he might be tired, but maybe he has time for a little fucking around. Tiso laughs, and decides not to comment on <em> that weird quiet warrior </em>, although he’d be willing to bet on who that is. “Death got so tired of me that she spat me back out.”</p><p>“Well! Welcome back! Are you going to attempt the Trial of the Fool… again?”</p><p>“Not <em> yet,” </em> Tiso says, emphasizing the <em> yet. </em> “I’ll be back.”</p><p>And so, after taking some time to prepare (rest) in the hot spring below the arena, and spending that whole time eyeing the other Fool in it as warily as they are eyeing Tiso, he is ready.</p><p>He might die. But he might not.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>When it comes time for the brooding Mawlek, Tiso races to the edge of the arena like he’s been shot.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Tiso is breathing heavily and already more wounded than he’d like to be when God Tamer leaps in, her god hot on her heels. Targeting the bigger, slower, heavier-hitting god first isn’t an intuitive decision, but it’s the one Tiso makes after watching challenger after challenger after challenger target God Tamer first and be crushed by lack of focus on the god.</p><p>She realizes fast, too fast, what he’s doing, and then he has to focus on <em> two </em> very deadly opponents instead of one. The god hits harder, but its tamer hits faster and is <em> much </em> more likely to hit somewhere vital.</p><p>Tiso blocks where he can, jumps and ducks and strikes back where he can’t. The odds are not in his favor. They never have been, and he isn’t about to start proving them right <em> now. </em></p><p>And then he’s cornered by the tamer <em> and </em> her god.</p><p><em> “Fuck,” </em> Tiso says, and does the only thing he can: he throws his shield. It elongates in midair, spinning and gaining spikes with every rotation.</p><p>It’s aimed for the tamer. The god steps in front of her to take the hit. It shudders, visibly trembling, and starts to leak orange.</p><p>“No,” the god tamer whispers. She drops her blade, holds a claw up to Tiso, and shouts, “I <em> FORFEIT! </em> NOW SOMEONE, <em> OPEN THE DAMN GATE!” </em></p><p>Tiso watches her half-lead, half-carry the dying god out of the arena. He’s showered in geo, but he barely even feels it. He goes to pick some up, but stops when someone cries, “The <em> ultimate fool! </em> Our new champion!”</p><p>...oh fuck <em> him, </em> he forgot about that part. Tiso stands his ground and makes a decision.</p><p>“No!” Tiso shouts back. He glares back up at the crowd, settles on a rapidly shrinking bug near the back. “I came here for a <em> challenge. </em> I found it, and I conquered it. Why would I stay now?”</p><p>The crowd rumbles in clear discontent. Tiso does not take the hint. “I,” he continues, “am <em> leaving. </em> I don’t care what traditions you have. I came, and I won, and I’m <em> done.” </em></p><p>The gate closes behind him, leaving all that geo unclaimed.</p><p>Tiso doesn’t care. He slips down to the hot spring under the disapproving eye of the little fool near the entrance, and prepares rests for a moment on the opposite side from the god tamer and her much better-looking god.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” God Tamer asks. “Shouldn’t you be the new champion?”</p><p>“I don’t like being tied down,” Tiso says in return. That much is true, if not the reason why he refused in this situation.</p><p>“Huh.”</p><p>The god burbles affectionately. God Tamer leans against the wall of a hot spring with a sigh. “You should leave.”</p><p>Tiso isn’t exactly in top fighting shape, but he can walk. He stands, pulls himself out of the hot spring, and looks back. “You should too.”</p><p>God Tamer laughs. “I was born in the arena, and I’ll die in the arena. I wouldn’t have it any different. Hey. If you make it out, I heard there’s a lake somewhere to the west of here. Blue and peaceful.”</p><p>“I’ve been there. It was…” Tiso searches for a word that’s not derogatory. “Peaceful.”</p><p>Maybe he’d appreciate it more now. Maybe he wouldn’t. Still, it’s not a bad destination to make for initially. He can always keep going. </p><p>(Maybe he’ll find the little warrior there. Maybe he’ll find another wanderer, exhausted in the mind if not the body. Maybe he’ll sit with the tired wanderer a while, until they decide to leave together.)</p><p>“Mmm.” She nods. “Safe travels to you, friend. Should you ever desire a rematch, let’s arrange one <em> outside </em> the Colosseum.”</p><p>(The rest of the local combatants would rather Tiso not leave at all.)</p><p>(He disagrees.) </p><p>(Violently.)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>okay so HAPPY BIRTHDAY AYEM first of all, hope you enjoyed! fun fact: the doc for this was titled "tiso is a boethiah worshipper" even though I think Tiso kind of deviated a bit from that. he's fine. everything's fine. everyone's fine. YEP.</p><p>seriously though, happy birthday and I'm sorry this thing spiraled so much out of control. I'm super glad we're friends. here's to many more! &lt;3</p><p>alternate title: Whoops, All Fixits! (TM)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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